The present invention relates to a siphon purge system for an ice making machine, and more particularly to a siphon purge system for removing water and sediment from the water reservoir of such a machine.
Ice making machines of the type that circulate water over refrigerated surfaces include reservoirs from which water is drawn for the circulation process. Ice forms on the refrigerated surfaces and when a predetermined thickness is achieved, water circulation is terminated and the formed ice is harvested. Once during each cycle water in the reservoir is replenished, and the ice forming process is then repeated. Since ice formed in this manner is free of any water borne particles that may be associated with the supply water, such particles collect as sediment at the bottom of the reservoir. Periodic cleaning for removal of such sediment is therefore required.
In other ice making machines of this general type, no water is added during the ice forming stage. Instead the system is charged with water once and after ice formation the water is dumped and a fresh charge of water is introduced.
Heretofore, it has been proposed to totally or at least partially dump the water from the reservoir by mechanical or electrical means. This is done once for each cycle of operation. For the most part dumping of the water, and with it the collected sediment, is accomplished by opening a drain in the bottom of the reservoir, such as by an activated solenoid or the like. Disadvantages of this approach include more electrical and/or mechanical parts being added which will increase failure rates. Also, with warmer water replacing the total amount of dumped water, the freezing cycle takes much longer thereby requiring more energy. Not only does this make total dumping of the reservoir more expensive through added energy consumption but ice production rates are also slower requiring more time per cycle than what would otherwise be necessary with already chilled water in the reservoir.